The ECHO Project is a three day Atlanta concert dedicating to raising awareness about global concerns, particularly concerning new, innovative programs for both energy creation and consumption. Among the bands slated to perform at this event: Umphrey's McGee The Killers, The Flaming Lips, Cypress Hill, The Bravery, Phil Lesh and Friends, and many more.
Umphrey’s McGee was officially formed at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana in December of 1997, and combined the members of two Notre Dame rock bands, Tashi Station and Stomper Bob. Because of the difficulty in marketing the band without a recorded CD, band members began work on their first album almost immediately, and, after only eight months, the band released their debut album, Greatest Hits Vol. III, and shortly after the album’s release, another member, Andy Farang, was added to the group and a second release of the album featured this new member.
Farang’s father also became the band’s agent, and Umphrey’s began playing at house parties and colleges, until 1999 when the release of their second album, Songs for Older Women, began to gain a national audience. Since then, the group has released two more studio albums, and has toured extensively throughout the world. The band is also hard at work on their fifth studio album, but will undoubtedly always be known for their improvisational live performances.
Umphrey’s McGee is known for their improvisational style of playing particularly during their live shows, which have been compared to the live performances of both Phish and the Grateful Dead in terms of their number of sets per night, near constant improvisation, and open taping policy. The band is influenced much more, however, by progressive rock bands such as Yes, Dream Theater, Frank Zappa, Genesis, and King Crimson. The band also lists their influences as The Police, The Beatles, The Monkeys, Nick D’Virgillo, and Led Zeppelin, and the styles that they cover during concerts vary from Lionel Richie to Snoop Dogg.
Umphrey’s McGee has seen many changes to its list of members over the year, but over all most of the initial members are still a part of the band. The current members are as follows: Brendan Bayliss guitar and vocals, Jake Cinninger guitar and vocals, Joel Cummins, keyboards and vocals, Ryan Stasik bass guitar, Kris Myers drums and vocals, and Andy Farag percussion.